


Wings Of Fire: False Truth

by dragon_25



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Blood, F/M, Gen, Gore, Hybrids, Icewing, Injury, Nightwing - Freeform, OC, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pathfinder hatched under one moon, Rainwing, Sandwing, Scarlets arena, Seawing - Freeform, Skywing - Freeform, Star hatched under two moons, Tui T Sutherland, alternate dragonets of destiny are different dragons, icewings aren't nice, mentions of dragonets of destiny, minor caracter death, wings of fire, wof
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-09-13 21:59:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16900590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragon_25/pseuds/dragon_25
Summary: Star is one of the dragonet's of destiny, or at least that's what she's been told. Star was given to the talons of peace as a egg, she hatched under two full moons and was given the power of mind reading and prophecy. She knows that she didn't hatch on the brightest night and she's a backup dragonet for the real dragonet's. When one of her guardians are killed Star has a vision. She knows she has to stop the war that's taking the lives of many dragons. Her vision leads her to the conclusion that she and her friends must escape and end the war. Along the way Star meets a Icewing that changes her plans, Star then knew that ending a war would be hard but she was not prepared for what is to come.





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fan fiction sorry if its bad. I will probably post short chapters and have slow updates. I'll try to update as soon as possible. ENJOY

The first memory Star had of her life was the moons calling out to her. She could feel the power beckoning her out, but she was also aware of the dragons behind her.

"What are we supposed to do? We can't get an Icewing egg! Cirrus said there's no way to get into the Ice kingdom without being an Icewing," a soft voice said from behind Star.

"We might have to stick with the Rainwing egg you got. How are we going to have the prophecy happen with a Rainwing?" A deeper male voice growled. "We might as well leave this up to the real guardians. But I don't trust them, they’re hidden away with the dragonet's, and no one from the Talons sees them. Also, I don't know if we can trust Cirrus, he just took off into the night without saying why, all he said was 'I'll be back'" the voice finished.

"Now Scorch, he's an Icewing you used to be on Blaze's side, you of all dragons should know how grouchy Icewings are," a kinder male voice said.

"You're as unhappy as me, I know that Icewings and Nightwings dislike each other, the odd thing is Cirrus doesn't seem to hate you more than everyone, he's actually more curious because you're a Nightwing or something like that, you can read his mind, can't you?" Scorch said.

"Were you paying attention when we met, I said I can see the future, I can't read minds, my name IS Pathfinder after all," the male with the kind voice said.

The dragonet in her egg could tell they the dragon named Scorch was full of anger and grief. The one named Pathfinder had an odd yet somewhat familiar mind. Pathfinder was full of gilt and had a recurring memory of a black and purple dragon's neck being snapped with a pair of red eyes behind the fallen body. Another recurring thought is what looked like lightning engulfing a thrashing dragon.

 _Come out come out_  the moons repeated. The urge to come out was so strong she couldn't resist. Pressing her talons around the walls surrounding her she pushed and squirmed in every direction.

"Look the Nightwing is coming out," a new higher pitch voice declared.

"What should we name it, what sort of Nightwing mombo jumbo would be a good name," Scorch grumbled.

"Scorch the dragonet's not a it and don't offend Pathfinder by insulting Nightwings," the soft voice said gently.

"Starfish you've always been to kind," Scorch said uncharacteristically gentle.

"Sunrise, what do you think we should name the Nightwing?" Starfish asked.

"I'm not good with names but I think we should see the dragonet before we name them," the dragon called Sunrise replied in her high pitch voice.

Star pushed harder and harder until the walls gave way. When the walls were gone, she shook herself and opens her eyes. What she saw was more than she could ever imagine. Down under the cliff she was on was blue for as long as her eyes could see. The wind howled around her and the stars glimmered above.

"Star, her name will be Star," the dragon named Pathfinder said.

"Star what kind of Nightwing name is that? Don't you think it should be something better like Warender or something that has to do with her powers?" Scorch asked.

"Leave Nightwing names to me" Pathfinder declared.

Startled by the voices behind her she waddled in a half circle. Behind her were four large dragons, one was deep blue with occasional white scales here and there. The one next to her was pale and had a row of yellow scales on his wings, he had a long scar stretching from his jaw to under his wing. The one next to Scorch, Sunrise, was as stunning red as rubies, her wings looked like fire and she wore a kind expression. The last one had scales like the night sky with purple spikes and wings this dragon looked like her.

"Hello Star," the one named Pathfinder said reaching out his snout, so their eyes were leveled. "You're going to grow up and end the war between the tribes, you are a dragonet of destiny."


	2. Trouble follows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star and her friends follow one of their guardians through a storm. things don't go according to plan.

The moons were almost completely new, a perfect night for flying undetected.

“Wait, you're going too fast,” Abyss panted.

“Ok, but hurry, we need to be back before the guardians find out,” Hawk replied slowing his pace slightly.

“Ok, I was totally listening, but can you tell me the plan again, just for a review of course,” Abyss asked.

“You sure were paying attention” Star replied sarcastically.  _When would Abyss ever listen and not be so bubbly?_  Star thought. But Star already know this was the way he will be, one of the benefits of being a mind reader. Star had also heard many other things in Abyss’s mind, things that she found odd and embarrassing.

The night was perfect for flying undetected but that was because of the harsh flying conditions. The wind blew them left and right. The rain pelted down on them like balls of hail it was cold enough to hail and she was sure it hailed sometimes, but the ice pellets bounced of her scales without harming her. The darkness was a major problem though, they were navigating cliffs and over hanging from cliffs in the dark. One false move and that could be the end. This wasn't a problem for Star and Abyss, they had night vision. They flew past the twin peaks of jade mountain heading west. After they left the cover of the mountains the wind and rain were worse. The wind yanked them back and forth and would separate them briefly at times. And the rain was soaking them, the rain was pouring down so hard that her wings started to hurt from the constant pounding of the rain.

“Are you sure we should be out here? These are hazardous conditions for flying, we should head back before the guardians wake up or one of us gets injured?” Mirage asked. “Besides, whatever Cirrus is doing out tonight, he obviously doesn’t want anyone to know about. Mabey we should go before anything terrible happens,” he finished.

“Cirrus is out in a giant storm; don’t you want to find out what he's doing? Besides if he doesn’t want anyone to know what he's up to, even more of a reason to find out,” Hawk answered.

“Of course, I want to know what he's up to but someone might- sorry will get injured, let's turn back before that happens,” Mirage replied.

“Well it's too late to turn back,” Hawk answered gleefully.

 _We have enough problems without this squabbling._  Star thought, about to voice her opinion but not fast enough. The Rainwing beat her to it.

“We have enough problems without your squabbling,” Jaguar snapped.

Hawk and Mirage quieted immediately. Thinking thoughts of how to avoid Jaguar wrath. The little Rainwing had a short temper and no one wanted to get on her bad side. The guardians learned this the hard way. But for all the threats she would say the dragonets knew that Jaguar would never harm them, not in a million years.

“We should go to scorpion den, other than that there is almost nothing around for tens of miles,” Jaguar shouted over the howling wind.

“Sounds good,” Star and the others called back.

The rain ceased when the dragonets reached the desert, but the wind continued. The dragonets landed about a mile away from the scorpion den to avoid being seen. When they touched the sand, it was still warm from the previous day. The wind blew sand into Star's eyes making her squint.

“Why would Cirrus be at scorpion den when he could be at the market place instead? The scorpion den is where most assassins and con artist are, the dragons are cut throat,” Star called over the wind.

“That's what we’re here to find out,” Hawk answered putting his wings in front of his eyes to protect them from the sand.

When Star and her friends arrived at the scorpion den, they saw three guards posted by the gates. The guards each held a spear and wore an iron chest plate.

 _The wind is killing me, I'll have to get thorn to raise my pay for guarding in this whether,_  One guard thought.

Another thought, _never seen that_ _Skywing_ _before, I know almost all the_ _Skywings_ _here, there aren't that many_ _Skywings_ _in scorpion den after all._

The last one thought,  _what's the point of guarding when the den is supposed to be open to everyone. Well, except_ _Nightwings_ _._

“How are we going to get past the guards, Star can you find a way?” asked Mirage.

“I think so, their minds thought what's the point of guarding when the dens open to all... except Nightwings,” Star said.

“Jaguar, do you have a solution?” Mirage asked.

“We might be able to pass, but Star can’t” Jaguar murmured to herself. “I think we all could try to go up, were just dragonets after all,” Jaguar said.

“Are you crazy, they could attack Star!” Abyss exclaimed.

“Well Star would hear if the guards were going to attack her besides, you got a better idea?” Jaguar pointed out.

“Abyss, I'll be fine,” Star said annoyed. Abyss cared deeply for her, sometimes too much for Star's liking. He cared for her more than just a sister.

“I’d say we should go back but we’ve come so far, and this might be our one chance to find out what cirrus is up to. But I still think this is dangerous,” Mirage commented.

“The brave might not live forever, but the cautious don’t live at all,” Hawk quoted from one of his favorite scroll.

“I still don’t like this,” Abyss grumbled. “Well no one asked you your opinion,” Jaguar said.

“So, are we all in?” asked Mirage.

“I’m in,” said Jaguar.

“I’m in,” said Hawk.

“I’m in,” said Star.

“OK, fine, I’m in,” Abyss said reluctantly.

Star's stomach started twisting, what if this doesn't work, how will we escape? Thought Star. As the dragonets got closer the guards lowered their spears.

“Halt,” the guards called over the whirling wind. Star froze in place in front of the guards. She felt the guards utter surprise as the recognized her as a Nightwing.

 _That’s a NIGHTWING Thorn’s looking for those_ , a guard thought.

 _A dragon’s looking for_ _Nightwings_ _, that’s not good for me_. Star thought with a shiver.

“You're a Nightwing right, what am I thinking?” a guard asked.

Star quickly skimmed his mind. “You're thinking that if I could read your mind that means I'm not a con artist,” Star answered confidently.

Her mind started to worry as the guard debated whether to lie about his thoughts the remembered she could read minds and shoved the thought away.

“She a Nightwing,” the guard said to his companions. “You can come in if you come in with me first, I know someone who’d like to meet you,” he said flashing her a smirk.

The guard led the through the gate. Inside where stands of dragons selling and arguing with others. A dragon came up to the guard and opened his mouth to say something. The guard hissed at the dragon, which sent the dragon scampering away.

“So, what's your name?” the guard asked.

Not wanting to give away her real name she said the first Nightwing name that came to mind. “Shadoweaver,” she said. “What's yours?”

“Sandstone,” he answered.

Star could feel her friend's confusion by saying her name was Shadoweaver, but one by one they got what she was doing.

Sandstone led them to a tent, he guided the inside. “Sit down and wait, she’ll be hear soon,” Sandstone said.

“Who?” asked Abyss.

Sandstone ignored him and stepped out of the tent and his thoughts got fainter as he moved farther and farther away. A couple minutes later a dragon walked in with three dragons around her, a dragonet, an adult male dragon and Sandstone. “So, I heard you’re a Nightwing, is this true,” Asked the female dragon who seemed to be in charge.

“I see your mind, you can figure it out can’t you,” Star retorted.

“Your right, now what do you know about a dragon named Stomemover?” she asked.

“Before I answer this question answer me this, who are you?” Star asked.

The female threw her head back bellowing a thunderous laugh. “You don’t know me do you,” she said studying Star closely. “I’m the queen of scorpion den, I’m Thorn”.


	3. A Shock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorn questions Star and her friends. Then star and her friends find shocking news about their guardians.

“Now I’ve told you my name what are yours” Thorn asked gesturing to Star and her friends.

“I’m Shadoweaver,” Star said. "This is lobster,” Star pointed to Abyss. "This is Eagle,” she pointed to Hawk. "This is lizard,” she pointed to Mirage. “And-”.

"You don’t need to know my name,” Jaguar cut off Star, glaring at Thorn.

“Ah, a dragon like Rainwing for one,” Thorn muttered, just soft enough that Star strained to hear.

Jaguar must have not been the only one to hear Thorn, Jaguar Started glaring at Thorn like she was trying to obliterate her with her gaze.

"So, back to the question, where is Stonemover?"Thorn growled approaching closer.

“We don’t know him,” Abyss answered.

"Silence Seawing, I didn’t ask you, you Seawings wouldn’t know him anyway. Now Nightwing, where is he?” Thorn pressed.

“I don’t know, I don’t live with the Nightwings,” Star insisted.

“Lies!” Thorn spat. But what Star said formed a question in her mind. "So, if you don’t live with the Nightwings where do you live?” Thorn asked.

“We move every now and then to avoid war,” Star lied as convincingly as possible.

Thorn still didn’t seem convinced, but she didn’t question that topic any farther. 

“How about a different question. Why did you come here?” Thorn asked.

“We followed one of our friends here and we got separated in the storm, we’re looking for him and taking shelter from the storm,” Hawk half lied.

“What are you doing together, if your Sandwing friend was odd looking I might suspect you are the so-called dragonets of destiny,” Thorn remarked.

The look on Abyss’s face gave away too much to Thorn.

“Oh, have I hit close to home?” Thorn asked.

 _Rats she knows,_ thought Abyss.

“Please just let us go, please,” Star pleaded.

"You have to answer my questions first before I can consider letting you go, Nightwings are quite valuable around here,” Thorn said.

“We told you, we don’t know where Stonemover is, we don’t even know who he is,” growled Hawk.

“Hold your tongue Skywing,” snapped “I want to hear what the Nightwing says not another ordinary Skywing.

“I will not! Let us go or things might get messy,” threatened Hawk.

"Sto-” Star Started then stopped as a vision of Hawks body with Thorns tail in his chest through his heart. Before Star knew what, she was doing she leaped across the room shoving hawk away from Thorn as she charged across the tent. Thorns tail just missed Star, the membrane of Stars wing touched the barb but wasn't pierced.

"Thorn! Stop if you harm then you can't get information,” the male dragon that came in with Thorn said.

Thorns hissing cut off abruptly, she sat down with a sigh. "Your right,” she said.

“Are you okay?” Star asked hawk.

“I’m fine, you don’t have to risk your life like that again, I could have handled it myself, but thank you I owe you one... or a few,” Hawk replied.

Star, while she's calming down, we should get out of here Mirage thought to Star.

Star shook her head. _No, we shouldn’t, we don’t want enemies. She is a good dragon, but powerful too._ Star thought to herself.

"Dragonets, answer me this, do you know the talons of peace?” Thorn asked.

Star thought for a moment looking in Thorns mind she realized this is a very personal question and Thorn desperately needed this question answered. "Yes, we know the talons,” Star answered.

Thorns mind then sparked with hope. "Do you know where the dragonets of destiny are?” Thorn asked.

“No,” Star answered truthfully.

Thorn’s mind Started to spin thinking of a dragon named Beetle.

"You should stay in scorpion den, we can keep an eye on you here,” Thorn said stalking out of the tent.

“Wait, we need to get back home, our parents will be looking for us, please let us go home.,” pleaded Star. 

The dragon named beetle flashed in her mind. Thorns face softened. "You can go home, dragonet, but if you find out anything about the dragonets come back and tell me,” she replied. “But stay away from here unless you have information on the dragonets. If you need to get past the guards tell them I need to see you and you have news on the dragonets. Go safely things get ugly around here,” Thorn added.

"Sandstone, escort these dragonets out,” Thorn said.

“Come along,” Sandstone said.

Now that the dragonets weren't so worried about being captured, they saw dragons with many scars and lots of different tribes. Star caught sight of two hybrids one looked like a Rainwing with the neck spikes of an Icewing. And the other a blue dragon with purple large wings and long twisting horns like a Skywing but the dragon still had the neck spikes of an Icewing. The two dragons caught her Staring and the both glared making Star look away. She saw dragons from every tribe except Nightwings. 

Star’s head was Starting to hurt with all these dragons and their angry thoughts whirling through her head. When can we get out Stars thoughts moaned. 

Still Star was intrigued by all the dragon tribes near each other without constant fighting. Star saw a Skywing look at her and bolt around the nearest stand. Odd Star couldn’t hear that dragon’s thoughts.

When they finally reached outside Star was relieved that the wind had died down drastically.

“Go, before the solders from the war go out on patrol,” Sandstone urged.

“Thank you, thank you so much,” Star said.

Sandstone just nodded and stood by the gate like how Star had seen him earlier that night.

Then Star and her friends took off into the night sky.

Star and her friends were able to travel much faster without the strong wind. The dragonets navigated through the mountains and overhanging's. By the time they reached their camp the sun had just begun to show over the horizon.

As they neared the place where their guardians camp was Star noticed that everything was eerily quiet, not just sound but Star couldn't hear their guardians' thoughts. They touched down on the plateau and crawled into the cave underneath. As Star feared, it was empty.

“Where is everyone?” asked Abyss.

“I don’t know,” Mirage replied.

A breeze of wind swept through the cave causing a rustling sound. From the corner of Stars eye she saw a part of a scroll. Star picked it up and gasped. On the scroll was a note- or an enchantment. The paper said,  _enchant this paper so in an hour all dragons in this room to instantly fall over dead and their bodies turned to ash, except for_ _Nightwings_ _. Trasport all_ _Nightwings_ _in this cave to scarlets throne room knocked out and in chains._


	4. Purpose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star deals with the death of her guardians, and the dragonets try to find a way to get pathfinder back.

_NO, this can't be happening_ , Star thought. Falling to knees, shoulders trembling as tears streamed out of her eyes. 

“Star! Star,” she herd Abyss’s voice call to her, but it sounded muffled, as if she was under water. Abyss came to her side draping a wing over her trembling shoulders and twined his tail with hers. To struck to pull away like she normally would, she accepted his attempt to comfort her. "What’s wrong?” Abyss asked. 

Too numb with grief to speak, she silently handed him the piece of parchment. Star heard a muffled gasp from Abyss. Abyss got up and handed the note to Hawk. As Hawk read it, he wore a look of shock, but not one of grief. Which was understandable because the guardians weren't the kindest to Hawk.  

"Wait, the guardians might not be dead, an animus cast spells with their thoughts, not by writing them down,” Jaguar said breaking the deathly silence in the cave. 

 _Could they still_ _be_ _alive?_  Star thought. 

"We could always check for ash,” Mirage offered. 

 _They might not be dead! They might not be dead!_  That thought was enough to stop her grief. Getting up slowly she followed her friends to the back of their cave. The cave was pitch black, all the torches had been put out. This should make Star feel better because before they left the torches were still lit. Someone must have put them out right, Star thought nervously. As they reached their guardians cave the torches where out too. Star had to gather all her will to walk in. Star thought that she rather think that her guardians were alive than know the truth. But her curiosity got the better of her. 

As she walked into the cave the smell on ash hit her.  _It_ _might just be the torches_ , Star told herself though she could feel tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Then Mirage who was at the front of their group, stopped dead in his tracks. He then leaned down to pick up something off the ground. Whatever it was he touched it and backed up suddenly. 

“Their gone, it's over,” he said shoulders trembling. 

"No” Star whispered. "No, this can't be, no, NO,” Star cried. 

"It's okay, I got you, I got you,” Abyss said wrapping Star in his deep blue wings, pulling her close. He whispered many calming things to Star. 

"No!” Star shouted bursting from Abyss’s wings and running out of the cave. She ran to the entrance and took flight. _I'm_ _not your mate!_  Star thought. Star knew it wasn't his fault, Abyss knew he liked her, but he didn’t want to admit it to himself either. 

Star flew for hours too numb with grief to feel her sore wings. After a time, she decided to go back home. She had cried as she flew thinking of her guardians. Sunrise, she was kind and protective. She normally helped settle arguments between the dragonets. Starfish, she was the one who taught the dragonets. Evan Scorch was mourned by Star, he taught them defense. He joined the Talons with his half-sister after his wife and dragonets were killed in an attack on a remote outpost. Pathfinder, Star couldn’t find out much about Pathfinder. He had gained the ability to shield his thoughts from Star when she was two, but Star did know Pathfinder was a prophet. A sob chocked her, as she remembered how kind they were to her. 

 _Was_ _it_ _Cirrus who killed them? If it is, why? Why would he send Queen scarlet_ _Pathfinder_ _?_  The questions flooded Stars mind. 

When she got back to the cave where the other dragonets were sitting on the plateau, looking up at her. 

When Star landed, she was silent until she managed to choke out, "I’m sorry, I-I- I didn’t mean to be rude, I just needed some time to myself. Sorry if I hurt you Abyss,”. Star was silent for another couple minutes. "So, they're really dead?”. 

"I’m sorry, but they are,” Hawk said. "But Pathfinder is still alive. We could try to get him,”. 

"We can’t, he's in the Sky palace. The place is heavily guarded, we can’t get through. If we were trying to get in, our best chance would to be caught and hope they take us to the same place as Pathfinder,” Jaguar said. 

"If we were caught, we would have an extremely hard time escaping,” Mirage pointed out. 

“Maybe we shouldn't go after Pathfinder, he probably wouldn’t want us to risk our self to save him,” Hawk said coldly. 

"What!” all the other dragonets chocked. 

"Why should we risk our lives for a lost cause, I want to get Pathfinder back I really do, but he would want us to leave him and save ourselves,” Hawk elaborated. 

The dragonets were silent, they knew Hawk was right about what Pathfinder would want. 

“Can't you go? I mean, you’re a Skywing they're not going to suspect anther every day Skywing as someone who's trying to rescue a Nighhtwing,” Abyss said. 

"Well that won’t work. Queens only let trusted dragons around valuable dragons,” Jaguar said. "It would take months to even get a chance, and by then who knows what might happen to Pathfinder by then,”. 

“OK, what can we do?” Star asked Jaguar. 

"I already told you, our best chance of getting in would be to get caught first,”. 

"We should just move on, there's nothing we can do,” Hawk pressed. 

“You might be right,” Star sighed. 

"We can’t save everyone, we can only save as many dragons as we can,” Mirage whispered. 

"Well what should we do? Without guardians or the Talons, were free,” Hawk said. 

Then it hit Star out of the blue. Her head started to hurt so much she thought she might pass out. As she fell over with pain Hawk caught her. The head throbbed. 

"What's wrong, what's happening?” Abyss asked. Stars head hurt so much his words didn’t process to her. 

Then as if someone had possessed her Star pushed herself up and moved to the center of the plateau. She lifted her snout and in a deep mesmerizing voice she said the words. 

 _The dragonets are out_  

 _The dragonets will come_  

 _The war will kill all_  

 _The lives of many will be saved with your t_ _alons_  

 _The ally you seek will be your_ _enemy_  

 _The tribe of which you_ _despise_ _is ruled by a tyrant_  

 _Ice will cover all_  

 _Unless you stop what_ _S_ _andwings_   _support_  

 _The frozen end is near_  

 _Seek_   _your_   _ally's_  

 _Nothing is what it seams_  

Star collapsed the pain in her head left as suddenly as it came. 

"What. Was. That?” asked Jaguar. 

"Was that a prophecy?” Abyss asked. 

The dragonets started to surrounded Star asking more questions, Star held up a talon to silence them “That is what we’re going to do now. We must end the war that has stolen the lives of hundreds,”.


	5. dragonets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star and her friends try to interpret her prophecy.

****

“Now Star remember that the Nightwings are on the brink of extinction,” Pathfinder said.

“Okay, but why? What caused us to have to move away from the old night kingdom?” Star asked.

“The Icewings,” Pathfinder growled. “They forced us out of our old kingdom, they attacked us when we were vulnerable,”.

“Are all Icewings bad?” Star asked.

“They are full of hate for Nightwings, they are cruel and merciless, the Icewings will kill us any chance they get. Don't let them get that opportunity, do you understand?” Pathfinder said.

“Yes, but Cirrus is an Icewing, he doesn’t seem to want to kill us, why’s that?” Star asked.

“Cirrus is... different, he doesn’t seem to want to kill us. Either he’s intent on bringing peace to us all, or he's up to something. But be wary around him,” Pathfinder warned.

“I won’t allow the Icewings to harm me, I’ll get them first,” Star promised.

\-------------------------------------------

Star woke up out of her dream remembering every moment from all those many moons ago. _Icewings_ _are the enemy,_ Star herd Pathfinders voice warn her. The old rage that Star had towards Icewings Started to resurface. _Cirrus was the enemy after all, this is his fault, now the guardians are dead, and_ _Pathfinder_ _’s trapped in the sky palace._  Star thought furiously. Star looked at the night sky and Stared at the new moon.  _Hawks right, we can’t possibly get into the sky palace, it's too heavily guarded._  But Star still couldn’t grasp the fact that they were just going to leave Pathfinder to the Skywings.  _This must be a dream; this can't be real._ Star thought.

Star tried to think of a way to get into the sky palace, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t think of a way to get Pathfinder back. Soon sleep washed over her.

“Star, wake up,” Mirage called to her.

As Star opened her eyes, she felt dry tears on her cheeks. Mirage noticed to because he asked, “Are you okay, I know it's hard to leave Pathfinder to the Skywings, especially because you and him were so close,” Mirage said. His mind also said, _believe me it's hard for me too, I miss them, all of them_.

“I miss them, it just doesn’t feel real, their dead but they were perfectly fine last time we saw them Also the fact that it must have been Cirrus that killed them when he lived alongside them is just so much to take,” Star said. “And Cirrus must be an animus to, because he enchanted them or the paper,”.

“I know it's a lot, but you should tell Abyss about what you think of his feelings towards you,” Mirage suggested.

“How do you know, I didn’t think Abyss told anyone, how did you find out?” Star asked.

“Well, I don’t have to be a mind reader to know Abyss obviously likes you, and after what happened yesterday, I know for certain that you don’t have the same feelings for him. You should tell him before he gets too close and it will break his hart more if you tell him later, for his sake spare him the extra pain,” Mirage said.

“I’ll try, but telling someone something like that isn't easy,” Star said.

“Good, just please do this,” Mirage asked. He got up and walked away towards the kill he must have made that morning. Star got up and joined him. 

Sitting around the kill were Mirage, Hawk, and Abyss. Star looked around for Jaguar and saw the little Rainwing sleeping on a patch of grass. When Star sat down to eat Mirages thoughts said, tell him, and Mirage angled his head towards Abyss.

Star was hesitant, she didn’t want to break his heart after just receiving news of their guardian's death. I'll tell him another time, I'll explain to Mirage later Star thought. Mirage had killed a young antelope, Stars favorite. I wonder how far he went to find this? Star thought.

“So, want to explain that prophecy that you had?” Hawk asked.

“I don’t know, I mean Pathfinder did say that the type of prophecies that possessed you are important and hard to understand,” Star replied.

“So, the first line is the dragonets are out, what do you think that might mean? Do you think it means us, or the actual dragonets from the prophecy? And would the dragonets are out, mean that the dragonets are finally released from the talons who are guarding them?” Abyss asked.

“I truly don’t know, but as I have the prophecy, I saw us and five other dragonets, a Mudwing, Seawing, Rainwing, Nightwing, and an odd Sandwing. We were in some sort of arena and then a flash of light came from the middle of the arena, then it ended,” Star said.

“Do you think that the dragonets near us were the dragonets of destiny?” Abyss asked.

“I don’t think so, there wasn’t a Skywing, and the Sandwing looked like a hybrid, but they are about the same age as the dragonets should be,” Star answered. “The best way to find out what will happen would be to just continue on until you know what the prophecy means of until it happens, that’s what Pathfinder told me,” Star said sorrowfully.

“Star, there's nothing we could have done or do, the best thing we can do is to stay alive and end this war,” Abyss said twining his tail with Star’s.

Star pulled away and moved away slightly. She herd Mirages thoughts said,  _tell him, sooner you tell him the less it will hurt._

“Well Pathfinder did tell me that prophecies don’t always happen you can prevent them,” Star said ignoring Abyss hurt face. 

“But the prophecy doesn’t say how to prevent things from happening, the prophecy also seems to be two parted, one part about the war and another about ice and what Sandwings support, or something like that,” Hawk said.

“We could wake up Jaguar, she would have some ideas about what the prophecy might be about,” Mirage said.

“I think we should, she can get us a lead on what were supposed to do,” Star said.

“I’ll wake her,” Hawk said. Hawk walked over to the little Rainwing. Putting a gentle talon on Jaguar her shook her shoulder carefully until she woke up. 

“Huh? What's going on,” Jaguar bilked slowly.

“We need your help, we can’t figure out what the prophecy means by ‘the dragonets’. We don’t know if it’s referring to us or the dragonets of destiny. What do you think?” Star asked Jaguar.

“Well, if it were referring to us what would it mean by the dragonets, or us, are out. We've always been out in the world,” Jaguar pointed out. “Also, you did say that the dragonets were underground, right?” Jaguar asked.

“Yes, I did apparently the talons know their underground, but don’t know where,” Star confirmed.

“So, in that case, if the dragonets did somehow get out from where ever their underground home is, that would mean they're out, as in they are out in the world,” Jaguar said, then yawned showing her razor-sharp canines.

“So, you think the dragonets are out in the world? And if they haven’t been out in this world before they might not survive long, lots of dragons are after them,” Abyss said.

“Well, I think that if the dragonets are out in the world, they probably have their guardians with them, so they're probity fine,” Jaguar said.

“I think that if the dragonets are in your prophecy, they're a good Start to try to figure out or solve your prophecy,” Mirage suggested.

“I also think it’s a good Start too,” Jaguar agreed.

“Really, but how in Pyrrhia are we going to find them?” Star asked.

“We could Start with the sky, mud or maybe even the rain kingdoms, that’s really the only places you can have an underground camp. And we can look for clues from there and see where destiny takes us,” Jaguar said.

“So, it’s agreed, were going to find the dragonets of destiny?” Mirage asked.

“I already said I agree,” Jaguar said.

“We don’t have a better place to Start,” Abyss said.

“I’m in,” Star said.

“Sounds like fun, I'm in,” Hawk said.

“OK, we can Start with the sky kingdom because its closest, and maybe we can find news on Pathfinder,” Mirage said. “Let's go find the dragonets of destiny,”.


	6. Sky

The morning rays filled the cave with pure golden light. Star yawned and stretched with the morning light. Star opened her eyes and looked around at her friends sleeping around her in their old cave. Star shivered at the memory of finding the enchanted paper here that killed their guardians.  _This place doesn’t feel like home, it feels more like a graveyard_. Star thought recalling the memory of finding her guardians ashes.

Star stepped out of the cave to watch the sun rise over the bleak horizon _. How in the world are we going to_ _find_ _the dragonets? There the dragonets of destiny, all the dragons of_ _Pyrrhia_ _are looking for them. What chance do we have in finding them?_ Star thought with a sigh. 

_Hey_ _Star_ _,_ _can_ _I join you?_  Mirage thoughts asked.

“Sure,” Star said without looking at Mirage as he emerged out of the cave.

“I know your still having trouble with dealing with the loss of Pathfinder, but why didn’t you tell Abyss?” Mirage asked, tilting his head slightly.

“I-I didn’t want him to deal with more grief, we all lost our guardians and I know he's grieving as much as I am,” Star said turning away from Mirage. “I want to spare him as much grief as possible, and I know telling him would cause more grief, I'll tell him after he gets over the death of our guardians, I promise,”.

“I still think you should tell him now, you know he’s still going to have the same amount of grief if you tell him now then if you tell him later, it might hurt more if you wait,” Mirage said mirroring their earlier conversation from the previous day.

“You don’t understand!” Star burst out. “I can feel the pain other dragons feel, I might not be feeling that emotion personally, but I feel the pain, it hurts, it hurts,” Star moaned the last part. “Being a mind reader isn’t as great as it sounds. Sometimes I want to be a different dragon, you can feel the anger of other dragons and how they hate you because you’re a Nightwing. For me, mindreading is a curse more than it’s a gift,”.

“Your right,” Mirage said siting up straighter. “I don’t know the pain you feel, but think, you might be able to save many lives with your powers, would you really want to be normal? You couldn’t see what someone's true intentions are, you couldn’t save hundreds of dragons by knowing when a dragon’s going to betray someone, would you truly give that up?” Mirage asked.

“Some days I'd give almost anything to be like other dragons,” Star said closing her eyes and only half answering Mirage’s question.

The two watched the sun fully rise over the horizon in silence. The sun spread its rays all over the mountains, casting deep shadows across the mountains.

“Morning,” Abyss yawned, stepping out of the cave.

"Where's Hawk? He’s normally awake before you,” Mirage said standing up facing Abyss.

"He’s looking for clues that could lead us to Cirrus. I told him that it was useless, Cirrus has always been cunning. I would think he would cover up his tracks, besides were not looking for Cirrus, were looking for the dragonets of destiny.” Abyss said stifling another yawn.

“I think Hawk has the right idea, we should look for clues that could show us where Cirrus is, we probably should avoid him if he’s an animus,” Mirage said over his shoulder as he walked into the cave, presumably going to help Hawk with his search.

“So, were you and Mirage out watching the Sunrise?” Abyss asked sitting down next to Star.

“Yes, this might be the last time we can watch the sunset without having to worry that about danger,” Star said as she thought about the danger they might encounter.

"How do you think we're going get information on the Sky kingdom? I mean, I know Hawk’s a Skywing but he’ll probably be the only who can get in, unless Mirage goes with him. But that might be suspicious, a Sandwing, that no one's seen that always stays in the Sky kingdom,” Abyss pointed out.

“I think Mirage could be a messenger from Hawk to us. That way he’s not always in the Sky kingdom,” Star said avoiding Abyss’s gaze.

“I don’t have to be a mind reader to know somethings up, what's bothering you Star?” Abyss asked ignoring their conversation, gently grabbing Stars chin and angling her snout to face him.

“Nothing, I just miss Pathfinder,” Star half lied.

“You sure, you could always tell me if some things wron-” Abyss Started.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. I just need space,” Star said cutting off Abyss.

“Okay, but if you ever need me you can just ask,” Abyss said standing up and flying to the plateau. But Abyss’s thoughts said something else. _Star_ _, please tell me_ _what's_ _wrong, I can help you._

“No, you can’t,” Star murmured sourly to herself.

Star sat looking around the valley before she decided that a morning fly would do her some good.  _Finding the dragonets, this is going to be_ _interesting_ _. Mabey we should tell the talons, they could be helpful. The talons could get us information on_ _the Sky palace_ _,_  Star thought. As Star flew farther away from the plateau, she saw the scavenger den come into view. Star had seen scavengers from afar and seen old dens, but the guardian didn’t want to get too close to the dens because after all, a scavenger killed the queen of the Sandwings, Oasis.

_I should_ _probably_ _get something to eat, when I get back the others will_ _probably_ _be_ _hungry._  Star turned back to find prey closer to home in familiar territory.

When Star returned to the plateau, all the dragonets were sitting on the plateau with a map spread out in the middle of the circle formation they were sitting in.

“Star! There you are, we need your help,” Hawk called out.

"Hi guys. What do you need my help with?” Star asked landing next to her friends, dropping the rabbits she caught at her talons.

"We need a way to get into scarlets arena, they sell seats, but I don’t know which fight Pathfinder will be in, he might not even fight, scarlet would probably sell him to someone, probably Burn, her ally,” Mirage said indicating to a sketch Sunrise, one of their late guardians drew of the Sky palace arena, that she used to work at. 

"We're going to get Pathfinder! I thought we were going to leave him in the Sky palace. Besides aren’t we going to try to find the dragonets?” Star asked.

"Well finding the dragonets are the main goal, but since were going to be in the Sky kingdom we thought we could try to rescue Pathfinder if we can,” Mirage said.

"Thank you, thank you so much!” Star said.

"We all miss him, even Hawk, but don’t get your hopes up this is only if things turn out well and we can get Pathfinder without dying,” Mirage said, as he looked at the burning sun in the sky.

“I think the best time to escape would be in the dead of night, the  Skywings will have trouble finding us if we get Pathfinder and escape the  palace. I could probably sneak in at night because they can't see me easily, and I can tell when a dragon getting close from their mind,” Star said.

“I think that will work, but are you sure your up for it, Scarlets palace is large, how will you find Pathfinder?” Mirage asked.

“I might be able to find out from the guards minds, if a Nightwing is in the prison I think that would stand out in their minds. Besides I could always wander around, I do have almost all night,” Star pointed out.

“Okay, but why would the dragonets be in the  palace anyway? The dragonets would probably stay far away from the Sky palace,” Abyss commented.

“If the dragonets were seeking shelter from dragons, they might stay near the Sky kingdom because they have one Skywing, a Mudwing and a Sandwing, they're all on the Skywings side of the war. A Seawing could stay hidden in one of the nearby lakes and Nightwings are good at hiding in dark places. But it is possible that the dragonets were caught and captured, and if they were, they might be in the Sky kingdom,” Jaguar said. “Besides were also supposed to find out information for Thorn remember, well kind of,”.

"The Sky kingdom is a about a two-hour flight from where we are,” Mirage pointed out.

"We should start going after we eat, we have a whole day ahead of us, we should use as much of the day as we can,” Star said.

The dragonets ate the rabbits Star caught and gathered all the maps and document that were needed then took off north towards the Sky palace.

The flight was a long one, the dragonets don’t normally fly long, the longest the dragonets flew without stopping was the time the talons of peace camp moved from the most eastern scavenger den to the part of the talon peninsula that’s on the boarder of the Sand Kingdom. 

The flight to the Sky kingdom wasn’t as hard as their flight to the scorpion den. Their flight to the Sky kingdom was smooth without the strong winds or the pounding rain they encountered when flying to scorpion den.

"How much longer?” Abyss asked.

“About another hour,” Jaguar answered.

“Really? My wings are hurting,” Abyss complained.

"Well Seawings aren't meant to use their wings for flying as much as other dragons, Seawings mostly use their wings to paddle through water,” Jaguar said sounding board.

"Why do you know more about Seawings than I do, I'm the Seawing, not you,” Abyss said.

“I Studied and I asked Starfish, how else would I know,” Jaguar retorted.

That left Abyss silenced for most of the flight to the Sky kingdom. The dragonets flew in silence Star could feel the worries and thoughts of the other dragonets as they got closer and closer to the kingdom. When the Sky palace was within sight the dragonets heard the roars of cheering dragons.

"What do you think is going on?” Mirage asked.

"There must be a fight going on, Sunrise said Scarlet would host a fight to the death each day for her entertainment,” Jaguar said.

"That's wrong, having dragons fight to the death for someone's amusement,” Abyss said.

"This is war, bad things happen in war, dragons have to fight for their lives, its kill or be killed,” Hawk said coldly.

"Wow, I didn’t know you could get any darker,” Abyss joked.

“Stop,” Hawk growled Staring daggers at Abyss.

“Okay, Okay, I get it, you don’t have a sense of humor,” Abyss said.

Hawk said nothing but growled in response.  _Abyss better watch it, sometimes he can be so_ _annoying_ _,_  Hawk thought.

When the dragonets got a little closer, they flew close to the ground taking cover in the trees. They were close enough to hear what the dragons were saying. 

“Booo! A sheep could have won this fight by now,”.

“Claw his Eyes out!”.

“Blood, Blood!”.

"The Skywings are quite gruesome,” Mirage commented.

“I guess their cheering for whoever they want to win,” Jaguar said shrugging.

"We're should we start? We could wait until night and Hawk can go in and he’ll be harder to detect,” Jaguar suggested.

“I think that sounds good,” Star said.

The dragonets set up a small cap they could stay in while Hawk went into the Sky kingdom.

"We’ll wait until night before you can go into the Sky kingdom,” Mirage said to Hawk.

“Ok, I'll look for signs of the dragonets and Pathfinder, I'll come back to camp during the night, if I don’t come back in three nights you can come looking for me,” Hawk said.

“You should get some rest, you have a lot to do tomorrow,” Star said to Hawk.

“I’ll rest,” Hawk said lying down.

“Now, we wait for night,” Mirage said.


	7. caught

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hawks POV

“Hawk, it's time to wake up,” Mirage said to Hawk gently shaking Hawk’s shoulder.

 Hawk opened his eyes and stood up slowly. “So, I'll try to sneak into the Skywing palace and get info on the dragonets if they're hear,” Hawk said with a yawn, repeating the plan they came up with the other day.

“That's right get in and get out fast, and if you haven't come back by three days Mirage will come looking for you,” Star said stretching. She then stopped and looked Hawk in the eye. “Please be careful.”

“If something goes wrong, come back, don’t worry about the mission,” Mirage said. “I know how caught up you can get on a mission,” Mirage remarked.

“I'll be fine, don’t worry about me,” Hawk said spreading his wings and crouching low, ready to take fight.

As Hawk gained altitude, he heard his friend call their good byes.

“Stay safe."

“Don’t get yourself hurt."

“Come back soon."

_Those fools, the S_ _kywings_ _might hear us!_ Hawk thought.  _At least Star and Jaguar are smart enough to know not to call out._

Sky gained altitude faster than normal dragons, because he was a Skywing after all. As Hawk neared the palace his heart started to beat faster.  _Why am I nervous? Their S_ _kywings_ _, my tribe. I can fight any of them!_  Hawk thought in an attempt to calm himself, even if he wouldn’t admit it to himself.

As the palace came into view Hawk saw a web of wire above an arena, connected to tall spires with dragons on them. _That must be where they keep the prisoners from war. Wouldn't it be smarter to question them then kill them?_ Hawk thought. I guess Queen Scarlet isn’t worried about her prisoners escaping.

Hawk got close enough to the arena to see that guards where posted outside the main entrance and two were standing on a balcony, presumably the queens. _How am I going to get past the guards? The guards don’t look like they’re on high alert. They seem to be slouching, maybe I could sneak past them_ , _and get into the dungeons that way,_  Hawk thought.

Hawk pondered his options. I could try to fly up and look for the dragonets, but sunrise did say that the Queen might keep her more valuable prisoners in her dungeon's. I think I should try to look on top of the spires, if the dragonets aren’t there, I can check the dungeon.

Hawk flew up silently to a high point in the sky to look down on the prisoners. Hawk saw the glimmer of Icewings scales in the pale moonlight.  _Icewings_ _, there always causing trouble, those heartless monsters,_  Hawk thought, as he recalled how cirrus had treated them all these years and how cirrus then killed their guardians and imprisoned one in the sky palace. _I'm_ _mostly_ _doing this because of some I_ _cewing_ _!_  Hawk thought angrily.

Hawk scanned the spires when a blaze of glowing orange scaled appeared in the corner of his eye. Hawk instinctively shifted his wings and talons into an aerial fighting pose. The glowing orange dragon didn’t seem to notice him though. _Odd, I wonder what’s wrong with that dragon, even I_ _cewings_ _don’t glow._ Hawk thought.  _What's that dragon up to?_  Hawk thought as he watched the glowing dragon land on a spire on the other side of the arena.

Hawk glided closer careful to keep his wings silent. He stayed far enough away so the glowing dragon would have trouble seeing him if the dragon even could. Hawk was close enough to hear voices, but not close enough to hear the words the dragons on the spire were saying. The faint glow imitating from the glowing dragon was enough light for Hawk to make out the features of the dragon next to them, a dragon with a large build and a flat head, and the dragon was a warm amber color.

_That can’t be, a M_ _udwing_ _? Why would a M_ _udwing_ _be in the prison of the Sky places, the M_ _udwings_ _and the_ _Skywings_ _are on the same side of the war, so why in the world could a M_ _udwng_ _be in the sky palace. Are the dragonets really hear, or could it be a M_ _udwing_ _traitor?_ Hawk wondered.  _If the dragonets are hear I'll need to find a N_ _ightwing_  Hawk thought. As he turned to look for a Nightwing he found his gaze continued to stare at the glowing orange dragon. _I wonder what’s wrong with that dragon,_ Hawk thought turning away.

Hawk flew higher to get a full view of the prisoners, he was so focused on trying to see what tribes the shadowy figures where from, he didn’t hear the quiet wing beats of the dragon behind him.  The dragon behind Hawk made a low growl causing Hawk folded his wings inward and let gravity pull him down. _How did I not hear that? Who was that?_  Hawk thought twisting his long neck to see a glowing orange dragon matching his wing beat pace.  _That dragon? Somethings not right with that dragon, I need to get away from hear as quickly as possible,_  Hawk thought urgently.

 Right before Hawk was about to crash into the sandy floor below him, Hawk threw his wings open. His wings stopped him almost in mid fall for a moment before he started to fly in a zig zag pattern right above the sandy floor. Behind him he heard the dragon hit the sandy floor and growl with annoyance. Hawk craned his neck to see the dragon behind him was still chasing after him, but much farther behind.  _Ha, you won’t ever catch me,_  Hawk thought confidently as he turned his head to see what was right in front of him.  _Ack!_  Hawk thought with surprise as a tall wall appeared in front of him. Hawk was able to pull up above the wall before he hit it.  _You're getting too cocky!_  Hawk scolded himself as he pumped his wing harder heading the opposite direction of where his friend are.

Hawk looked back to see that no dragon was following him, the glowing dragon was no were to be seen. Hawk glided into the trees for cover agents the glowing dragon in case they were still after him. _What am I going to do now? Whoever that dragon is they’ll probably be on the lookout for a dragon snooping around during the night. I could try to pretend to go to the arena to watch a fight, but I'd assume there will be more guards, guards that are alert, and not to mention other watching eyes of other dragons_ , Hawk thought.

Hawk waited in the tree for a couple more minutes debating what he should do. _If I go back to camp, I have a better chance of not being followed, but if I wait until morning and go to the arena that glowing dragon might recognize me. But what better option do I have?_ Hawk thought.  _If I do go back_ _S_ _tar would come in search of the dragonets and_ _P_ _athfinder._  Hawk thought wondering if Star would have a better chance than he did to find the dragonets and Pathfinder. _No, I must do this It's my mission, not hers,_  Hawk thought setting his jaw. 

Hawk flew out of the tree and headed to the sky palace arena. When Hawk was half way to the sky palace, he spotted a wing of solders flying towards the sky palace, the wing was close enough to Hawk that if a dragon on the wing looked in Hawk's direction, they would see him. Knowing that Hawk dived into the trees. _I can’t have many more delays, Sunrise said it's only a matter of time before a dragon from_ _S_ _carlets arena dies in combat,_  Hawk thought remembering what Sunrise had told the dragonets about the sky palace.

After a minuet Hawk peered out from the tree he was in, he whipped his head around looking for signs of dragons, he didn’t see any. Deciding it was safe to go out and head to the palace. By the time the sky palace arena came into view, Hawk stayed out of the arena, just in case the glowing dragon was still in the arena.

_I should go back to the_ _Mirage_ _and the_ _others_ , one part of Hawk's minds whispered while the other said  _this is your mission, you shouldn’t put anyone else in danger because your incapable._  Hawk finally made up his mind,  _I'll go to the sky kingdom_ _during_ _the day to see if_ _there's_ _a fight_ _against_ _the_ _dragonets_ _if_ _they’re_ _hear_. Hawk decided.  _And with luck, I can look for_ _Pathfinder_ _tomorrow_ _night._

With Hawk's mind made up he flew away from the Sky palace arena, far enough that a dragon in the sky kingdom couldn’t see him, if he were in the air. Hawk flew west for about five minutes until he found a place where he could spend the night.  _Tomorrow_ _, I'll go to the arena._ Hawk thought as sleep washed over him.


	8. death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning graphic depictions of violence in this chapter and the next.

Hawk woke hours before the sun's rays cast their golden light over the mountains that towered above the valley Hawk slept in. When Hawk awoke, he looked at the night time sky trying to judge the time by the moons position in the sky. _How am I supposed to know the time? This is more of Jaguar’s thing, not mine,_ Hawk thought annoyed, deciding to just go to the sky kingdom. Hawk flew east for about five minutes, keeping an eye open for any dragons taking a night time flight.  _Why am I taking so much caution? I'm a_ _Skywing_ _, it's not like the_ _Skywings_ _are going to attack a_ _Skywing_ _on sight,_  Hawk thought annoyed with himself.  _You're staying hidden because you might not know that much about the_ _Skywings_ _, the less time you spend around them the less chance you have of being caught,_  one part of his mind said.

When Hawk saw the Sky palace come into view he paused, hovering in the air. _I could try to sneak into the arena now, I don’t know how in the world I'm going to get a seat at the arena. I don’t even know where to get tickets, if there are tickets,_  Hawk thought, remembering the debate the dragonets had about whether you needed to buy a seat to get into the arena. The dragonets did eventually conclude that it would be logical to have to buy a seat.  _How are the sellers or the queen keep track of what seat each dragon bought?_ Hawk wondered. _Mabey I could sneak in with a crowd of dragon, I am small compared to adult_ _S_ _kywing_ _s_ _,_ Hawk thought. _What better plan can I come up with? If I get caught, I'm just a normal_ _S_ _kywing_ _dragonet_ , Hawk thought flicking his tail in the open sky.

When Hawk landed within the walls of the Sky palace, and oddly the streets were dead silent. Hawk wandered around the city looking for any dragon. Hawk had to walk around for a good ten minutes before he spotted some older dragon setting up a small stand. When the dragon caught sight of Hawk, he beamed and made a gesture at Hawk for him to come over. Not wanting to seem suspicions Hawk slowly mad his way to the stand. _What does this dragon wat? He better not_ _want_ _a fight,_  Hawk thought fiercely.  

“Dragonet, what's your name?” The elderly dragon said smiling an almost toothless crooked smile at Hawk.

Not wanting to give away his real name he used the name he had used with Thorn. “Eagle,” Hawk said looking around the stand the dragon had set up. The stand had large crates piled behind the counter of the stand. The stand had glass orbs with an orange burning flame casting a soft orange yellow glow around the stand.

“How old are you?” The old dragon asked rustling with something behind the wooden counter.

“Why? I need to be somewhere, if you don’t desperately need me for something, I'll be on my way,” Hawk said turning on his heels.  _What was that dragon after, I'd think he would try to sell me something? why was he just asking questions?_  Hawk wonder as he walked away from the stand.

“Wait, I asked you a question, you answer,” The old dragon growled from behind Hawk. 

_Don't look back, don’t look back,_  Hawk thought as he continued to walk away from the stand, picking up his pace slightly.

As Hawk walked away from the stand, he heard a faint slithering of a dragon's tail dragging from behind a dragon. Hawk didn’t look over his shoulder he just started to move faster. Then from behind Hawk a shadow appeared over Hawk, then before Hawk knew what was happening a large dragon was on top of him, pinning him and restricting his movements.

“You look to be around the age of a dragon who hatched on the brightest night. If you weren’t you would have answered my question, not run away. What are you hiding?” The elderly dragon growled into Hawks' ear as he dug his talons into Hawk's sangria and blood red scales.

_How did he know? Of course, he could tell, I am about the size of a dragon who hatched on the brightest night_. Hawk thought as another, tucked away part of his brain whispered; _because you were hatched on the brightest night._  “I wasn’t! I was born a week after the brightest night! I’m telling the truth!” Hawk insisted struggling agents the weight of the old dragon.

“If you were, where are your parents, hmmm,” The dragon said twisting Hawk’s arm until he hissed in pain.

“Their dead!” Hawk shouted. “Their dead,” Hawk repeated this time quieter. The guardians said all kinds of things about the dragonets heritage and where they got their eggs from. They told Hawk that his egg was found in an egg orphanage at scorpion den. The guardians knew he was going to hatch sometime around the brightest night, they didn’t know he  _would_ hatch on the brightest night. 

“Is that so dragonet,” The older dragon hissed, twisting Hawks wing till it made a sickening pop. “Why are you just walking around, you're supposed to be in an orphanage. You-” The old dragon was cut off, when another dragon barreled into the older dragon.

Hawk didn’t waste a second, using this to his advantage, he scrambled up and crouched low spreading his wings, for the advantage of balance if he needed to fight. The dragon who barreled into the older dragon was about five years older than Hawk. The dragon had garnet and tangerine colored scales with long hooked claws. The new dragon had the older dragon pinned after a few moments. 

“Swallow, what are you doing?” The new red and orange dragon asked, but not sounding too fierce, the dragon sounded more... curious.

“Auk! What are you doing here? I'm currently bussy,” The older dragon- Swallow said with annoyance shifting the red and orange dragon- Auk off himself.

“Busy attaching helpless dragonets I see,” Auk said shooting Hawk an apologetic glance, Hawk just scowled back. “Why are you attacking this dragonet,” Auk asked taking a step closer to Hawk.

Hawk could see that Auk was a female dragon about the age of eleven, she had large wings, large for a Skywing. Auk had three bracelets on her arm, each one with rubies that marched her glossy garnet scales. Auk wore a large smile, Hawk thought if he ever smiled that much, he's face would be to sore to talk, of doing much of anything for that matter.

“Hi, I'm Auk! Sorry about my grandfather,” Auk leaned closer to Hawk as Hawk leaned back. “He can be very grumpy in the mornings,” Auk said winking at Hawk, as Hawk took an unsure step backwards.

“I may be old, but my ears still work!” Swallow said angerly to Auk, as he slowly walked towards his shop.

“I don’t recognize you, are you new here? If you are, I could show you around,” Auk said excitedly jumping slightly.

_I don’t want this dragon to know I'm not from the sky kingdom,_ Hawk thought. Thinking quickly Hawk made up an answer in his mind. “I'm form the northern part of the sky kingdom, I'm just coming to visit my cousin,” Hawk lied, Hawk was good at lying, he would to it to the talons all the time to the guardians to cover up how he would sneak out of where they currently lived to practice his fighting skills. Or sometimes he would hut sneak out and return saying he was hunting even if he wasn’t.

“Who’s your cousin? I might know them,” Auk said stepping in front of Hawk as he started to walk away from Auk.

“No, you don’t,” Hawk said going around Auk. _I don’t even know my cousins for that matter,_  Hawk thought bitterly. “I have to go somewhere, alone,” Hawk said as he moved farther and farther away from Auk.

“OK, maybe I'll see you around,” Auk called after Hawk. _I hope we don’t,_  Hawk thought as he turned a corner moving out of Auk’s sight.

Hawk wandered around the palace for a couple hours, and when the sun had been up for three hours, dragons started to fly to the arena.  _I hope they don’t keep track of who belongs and who doesn't_ _,_  Hawk thought as he took to the sky following a large group of ruby red dragons. The dragon flew at a slow pace for a Skywing, but for other dragons they flew quite fast. The group of dragons flew down to the arena unaware of the dragonet tagging along.

The Skywings took a seat behind wall that separated the dusty floor from the sandstone seats that surrounded the arena. Hawk took a seat a few dragon lengths away from the large group of dragons trying not to be too suspicious. Hawk was able to hear the gossip from the other dragons around him.

“Did you hear? The queen’s champion called upon the tradition of champion shield, for her mother... Kestrel!” a dragon to Hawks right said. 

“I heard a rumor that the queens going to make a Nightwing fight. I wonder how the fight will go down,” A dragon behind Hawk said.

“I wonder if the queens going to make one of the dragonets from the prophecy fight her champion. Not Peril, but the Icewing,”a dragon in front of Hawk said.

_I guess the dragonets are here,_  Hawk thought not really surprised.  _If the queen is going to make a_ _Nightwing_ _fight, it would be Pathfinder... of the_ _Nightwing_ _from the dragonet prophecy,_  Hawk thought.  _I've never seen Pathfinder fight, I wonder how good he is._  Hawk thought for a couple minutes, then all the chattering from the dragons around Hawk ceased. Hawk looked around at the dragons around him, he saw that all their gazes were fixed on the balcony were a scarlet dragon was standing.  _That must be Queen Scarlet! She is a lot smaller than I expected,_  Hawk thought looking at the gem studded dragon standing on the balcony.

“As you know, my champion had called upon the traditions of champion shield this morning, in fact some of you were there,” Queen Scarlet said scanning the audience. “Most of you know I have a Nightwing in my possession, two in fact. I have one from the oh so famous dragonet prophecy, and another one, an adult. The problem is the adult, Pathfinder, is refusing to give me the answers to the questions I asked. And you all know what happens to dragons who disobey me,” Queen Scarlet said as the audience started cheering. “So, he will fight in the arena agents a tribe who has had a history of hatred for Nightwings, I give you Hoarfrost of the Icewings!” The queen shouted as the audiences went wind. Several guards brought down a celeste blue and white Icewing who withered in the grip of the Skywing guards. When Hoarfrost was down on the sand with the guards in the air the queen continued. “And, I give you Pathfinder of the Nightwings!” the queen shouted over the roar of excitement from the audience. As Pathfinder was led out into the arena. Pathfinder looked at Hoarfrost and looked like he was starting to cucullate what he was going to do. “Claws up! Teeth ready! Fight!”

Hoarfrost gave a deep roar and charged across the sandy arena floor. Pathfinder stood still as the large dragon came charging towards him.  _Move! Move!_  Hawk thought as he saw Hoarfrost get closer and closer. At the last second Pathfinder leaped into the air despite having his wings restrained and shot a plume of fire at Hoarfrosts back, then landed on his talons facing Hoarfrost ready for another attack. The Skywings roared in surprise and excitement.

Hoarfrost collapsed to the ground and batted at his smoking scales until the smoke vanished, then slowly he turned to face Pathfinder again, but this time more cautiously. Hoarfrost took steps towards Pathfinder as if Pathfinder was his prey, not his opponent. The crowd was silent enough to hear a slight hissing noise. Hawk saw Pathfinder tip his head in confusion, probably trying to figure out what the noise was. Hoarfrost took another step closer to Pathfinder as his eyes widened. Hoarfrost quickly snapped his jaw open as Pathfinder dove to the side but not fast enough. The tip of his tail and right wing was hit, leaving a shiny sheen to his night black scales. But Pathfinder got back up and returned the ice blast with a large plume of fire.

This time Hoarfrost was prepared, we ducked and rolled to his left avoiding the hungry red and orange flames. Hoarfrost got back up quickly and was able to charge at Pathfinder before Pathfinder knew what was happening. Hoarfrost was almost twice Pathfinder’s size which made it easy to pin him. Pathfinder struggled then went limp.  _Pathfinder_ _?_  Hawk thought.  _Is- he can’t- be..._

As fast as any dragon could move, Pathfinder was able to struggle free from Hoarfrost grasp, but now without having Hoarfrost long claws dig deep gouges into his midnight scales causing beads of red sticky liquid drip into the hot sand. Pathfinders red blood covered his midnight scales as if the sky was being painted with blood. The red beads dripped from his scales and onto the sand being soaked up immediately by the thirsty sand. 

“You are a swift one,” Hoarfrost said in a crazed laugh as he leaped into the air at Pathfinder. Slowed by his wound's Pathfinder was barely able dodge the attack coming at him. Hoarfrost landed right besides Pathfinder and threw out a talon, raking Pathfinder’s side as Pathfinder howled in an unnatural way.  _Come on!_ Hawk thought as he leaned forward. Pathfinder twisted in Hoarfrost's claws as he kicked Hoarfrost in the snout using the talons on his back legs to rake Hoarfrost’s face. Hoarfrost recoiled letting go of Pathfinder giving Pathfinder the opportunity to singe him with red and orange flames. 

Hoarfrost threw his wings up at the last second protecting the rest of himself with his wings, but not without consequences. When Hoarfrost let his wings droop into the sand his face became contorted in horror and anger. His celeste blue wings were scorched to an ashy blue color with gray smoke rising from his destroyed wings. Hoarfrosts wings had holes were the membrane was burnt away leaving holes with black rims. Hoarfrost raised his head up to glare at Pathfinder as his eyes narrowed. “You’ll pay for that,” Hoarfrost growled as the hissing from before returned. Pathfinder started to run in seemingly random directions, as Hoarfrost unleashed his ice breath. Pathfinder avoided the frozen breath, but Hoarfrost continued to move his head causing Pathfinder to move constantly. 

While Pathfinder was distracted on avoiding Hoarfrost’s ice breath, he didn’t notice Hoarfrost inching closer until it was too late. Pathfinder saw Hoarfrost from the corner of his eye as the ice breath started to come from above. Hoarfrost leaped into the air and landed on Pathfinder, this time ready when Pathfinder went limp. When Pathfinder tried to bolt away from Hoarfrost’s grasp Hoarfrost slammed his talon down on Pathfinder’s head. Pathfinder returned this by somehow twisting his back legs and raking his claws down Hoarfrost’s exposed underbelly. Blue blood spilled from Hoarfrost under belly mixing with Pathfinders red blood causing a pool of purple mulberry colored blood to drip down into the sand around Pathfinder. Hoarfrost hissed and raked his claws down Pathfinder's dark wing membranes, cutting the veins in his wing which started to spew blood too. Hawk saw Pathfinder grit his teeth with pain but didn’t scream out loud.

“I thought Nightwings could read minds, you don’t seem to, I bet your defective,” Hoarfrost growled in Pathfinder’s ear. “You weren’t caught with a group of Nightwings, were you? I bet they sent you away because you're so weak and defective.”

“I thought Icewings were great warriors. It seems your defective for being caught,” Pathfinder said with a pained smirk that Hoarfrost couldn’t see.

“You-” Hoarfrost shouted digging his white talons into Pathfinder’s black scales. Crimson red liquid pooled out of the place were Hoarfrost had sunk his claws in. Pathfinder was covered with so much blood Hawk could barely see the wounds Hoarfrost had created. “Do you have any last words,” Hoarfrost said slyly. 

“Yes, I do... All hail the talons of peace and the dragonets of destiny!” Pathfinder said loud enough for all the Skywings in the arena and maybe the Skywings around the area could hear. All the Skywings hissed at what Pathfinders said, but Hawk could have sworn he heard the dragons in the spires murmur something hopeful to them self or one another.

“Brave last words,” Hoarfrost said with disgust. Hoarfrost twisted Pathfinders neck so the exposed part of his neck with no sales were facing upward. Hoarfrost bent his neck down slowly and menacingly. Then he moved like a cobra striking his prey. He grabbed the exposed part of Pathfinders neck and wrenched his head back. 

Dark red blood shot out of Pathfinder's neck as blood sprayed in all directions shooting out from when Hoarfrost ripped Pathfinders throat from his neck. The red liquid splattered across Pathfinders blood coated scales. Hawk slowly moved his gaze to Hoarfrost which was a more disturbing sight for Hawk. Hoarfrosts ice white teeth were coated with red blood. The blood dripped down to his jaw and down onto the blood that was pooling from the torn neck of Hawks now dead guardian. The blood that was pooling out of Pathfinders ripped neck was sickening. The blood would spill into the sand, and the sand would soak it up instantly. Pathfinders wings were starting to collect to blood pooling from his body staining the sand.

But Hawk remembered that moments before, Pathfinder closed his eyes awaiting his fate. The blood and image that came from Pathfinder’s neck being torn out and the blood that pooled from it was sickening enough to make the Skywings in the arena shift with discomfort.

_No, NO! Pathfinder can’t be dead, he can’t!_ Hawk thought. _I failed_ _,_ _Star’s going to be so upset._  Hawk thought numb with grief.  _You are ta real failure!_  Part of Hawk thought.

The Skywing guards that were in the air came down and put a muzzle around Hoarfrost's scratched snout. Hoarfrost didn’t refuse, he let the Skywing guard's take him to his spire and lock him up again. The guards stood by Pathfinders body looking sick. They whispered to each other for some time before one finally grabbed Pathfinder’s tail and pulled his body away. The blood that collected on his wings dumped into the sand that was so blood soaked that it didn’t absorb the sickly liquid.

“Now we have one more fight for today,” The Skywing announcer said once Pathfinder’s body was dumped into a blazing fire on the other side of the arena. But Hawk wasn’t paying much attention to his words. “You all must know of the Icewing that is still undefeated,”  _Great, another_ _Icewing_ Hawk thought bitterly. The guards on the sand below who dragged Pathfinders body away stopped their chatting and gave one another a look of horror, then looked at the Skywing announcer who gave them a hard look.

The guards gave one another horrified glances as they took off to a tall spire with an electric blue dragon with an opal under belly.  _Why are the guards so afraid? It's just an_ _I_ _cewing_ _,_  Hawk thought. Hawk watched the guards pick up the Icewing who stayed limp in their talons. When the guards put the dragon down on the blood-soaked sand Hawk could see the Icewing clearer. The Icewing had an unusual spike sprouting out of the edge of the corner of his bottom jaw. His talons were curved sharper than most Icewings claws. But the oddest thing about him was that he had almost no wounds.  _If he’s undefeated he must have only fought a couple fights because he doesn’t have many wounds._

A couple moments after the guards put the Icewing down the Icewing sat down looking patent. The guards who took to the air looked at one another in confusion, but they were to slow to catch what was about to happen next.

The Icewing tore across the arena, his footsteps silent, and leaped off the ground and managed to get a surprising height without using his wings. The Icewing had aimed at a guard who was too low to the ground and sunk his white sharp teeth into the vulnerable part of the Skywings tail. The Skywing screamed as the Icewing pulled on his tail with immense strength pulling the stunned Skywing out of the air onto the arena floor. 

The Icewing leaped onto the Skywing who's face had contorted in fear. The electric blue dragon landed on the Skywing pinning him to the ground and digging his teeth into the red dragon's neck. The guards in the sky hesitated before they started dragging the withering Icewing off their companion. The attacked Skywing was carried off by three Skywings. The red Skywing hung limply in the talons of the dragons taking him to a hospital presumably.

The Icewing that withered in the dragons grasp finally managed to push himself free and stand back on the sand growling and snarling at the Skywing guards, who had all types of cuts and bruises on them.

“Now calm down and stop harming my guards,” The queen on the balcony said not really seaming to care about her guards. “I know how you keep asking for a fight with the champion, so I made a compromise.”

“I will only fight the champion then get away from this horrid place,” The Icewing said sounding extremely calm and confident, as he raised his azure gaze narrowing his eyes.

“Don’t call my arena a horrid place,” The queen said putting on a mocking smile. “You can fight a dragon who has won four fights. That sounds like a compromise to me.”

“I will fight your champion and win and get out of this horrid place. Or die and escape this world forever. Besides I need to leave this world eventually, there’s nothing left for me anyway,” the Icewing growled but sounding surprisingly noble and menacing. 

_Those are deep words, just like what something you would say,_  Hawk heard Abyss saying causing Hawk to growl.

“Well if you want to get out of this place so desperately, maybe you should let you opponent kill you,” Queen Scarlet said with a smug smile.

“I will not stain my honor to die at the claws of any ordinary dragon. If I die at the claws of your champion, at least I have honor in dying in the talons of some sort of fire monster.”

“My champion is not a monster. She's MY monster!” Queen Scarlet shouted sounding insane. “Now continue,” Queen Scarlet said waving at the announcer. Ignoring the hateful glare of the Icewing’s azure eyes.  

 The announcer hesitated for a moment looking at the Icewing who was glowering hatefully at him. Gulping the announcer continued. “He has won eight fights so far. I give you Blizzard of the Icewings!”


	9. Blizzard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gore warning. Blizzard's POV

Blizzard knew he was in no position to bargain with the queen, but he liked to do it to see how much she could take. When the guards came to his spire that afternoon, after the fight with the Nightwing, Pathfinder, and the dragon who was in the spire next to him, Hoarfrost, Blizzard knew he was going to fight. The guards approached him slowly, Blizzard just sat up and yawned showing off his impossibly white teeth, especially after all the dragons he’d killed. Blizzard enjoyed toying with the guards, they were the only dragons besides the queen and his opponents he interacted with. 

Blizzard had lived in the arena for about a month and a half. Blizzard knew the dragons in the arena always needed to interact with other dragons. Blizzard had seen and heard dragons talking to one another, only to be poked by sharp spears. Even if the guards wouldn’t poke Blizzard, he didn’t want to talk with Hoarfrost anyway. Most dragons interacted with dragons from their tribe, Blizzard interacted with the guards instead. Blizzard knew the guards feared him, chains of no chains, which made things fun. 

Blizzard waited patiently as the guards came closer and closer.  _These guards are very cautious. The queen won’t be pleased,_  Blizzard thought pushing down a smile. The guards paused for a moment and looked at one another until one made a move to unclasp the chain on Blizzard’s left back talon. The other guards did the same to his other talons, Blizzard waited. The guards picked him up and flew him to the arena floor where he sat down looking bored. The guards were probably expecting him to instantly leap at them and strangle them, but he didn’t... at the moment.

When the guards started exchanging confused glances to one another Blizzard took it as his cue. Blizzard moved as swiftly and silently as a shadow as he ran across the arena floor. He bunched up the muscles in his back legs and sprang at a guard who was well flying within Blizzard’s leaping range.  Blizzard’s teeth easily found their way into the soft flesh as the Skywing started to scream. Blizzard knew the guard could hold both of them up but would drop to the ground in fear or pain eventually. Blizzard didn’t want to wait. He jerked his head back flinging him and the Skywing guard into the sand. Blizzard had lots of practice fighting dragons larger than him, he used to be in the first circle after all. Blizzard landed on the guard and sunk his teeth into the warm flesh of the Skywings neck. Warm red blood, much different from his blood, pooled in Blizzard's mouth. The guards in the sky did nothing for a moment so Blizzard continued attacking the guard. Blizzard dug his talons into the pyrite skin of the guard and bit harder around the neck until the guard’s thrashing stopped and the guards in the air seized him by his tail and pulled him off their comrade. The Skywing guard Blizzard attacked was alive, barley, but Blizzard knew he wouldn’t make it through the night.

Blizzard clawed and spun in the grip of the Skywing guards, slashing their scales as beads of blood dripped down their blood colored scales. The guards tried slashing Blizzard, but Blizzard moved so swiftly the guards couldn’t land a hit. Blizzard soon pulled his way out of the cluster of guards, only with one or two minor scratches. He faced the guards crouching low to the ground snarling ready for a fight. Blizzard was satisfied with what he had done today, the guards had lots of cuts and purple swelling burses one had a long deep scratch over his eye rendering it useless.

"Now calm down and stop harming my guards,” The queen on the balcony said with an amused expression. Blizzard knew that Queen Scarlet didn’t care for her guards, she was more amused by the skirmishes the guards and Blizzard had. "I know how you keep asking for a fight with the champion, so I made a compromise,” the queen said with an annoying smirk.

"I will only fight the champion then get away from this horrid place,” Blizzard growled.  _She's never going to let me fight the champion. If I do get tired of this place, I can try to escape... and probably die in the process._

“Don’t call my arena a horrid place,” The queen said putting on a mocking smile. "You can fight a dragon who has won four fights. That sounds like a compromise to me.”

"I will fight your champion and win and get out of this horrid place. Or die and escape this world forever. Besides I need to leave this world eventually, there’s nothing left for me anyway,” Blizzard growled without any emotion. He always wondered what life held for him as a dragonet, but now he knew he had to make his own destiny. After he was exiled or rather, he left, he decided to go to scorpion den. He wasn’t prepared for the full battalion of Skywing guards that ambushed him after a battle with the Seawings.

"Well if you want to get out of this place so desperately, maybe you should let you opponent kill you,” Queen Scarlet said with a smug smile.

_I'd never die at the claws of a normal dragon, I'd die at the talons of a worthy opponent,_ Blizzard thought. "I will not stain my honor to die at the claws of any ordinary dragon. If I die at the claws of your champion, at least I have honor in dying in the talons of some sort of fire monster,” Blizzard said knowing Queen Scarlet wasn’t too fond of her champion at the moment.

“My champion is not a monster. She's MY monster!” Queen Scarlet shouted sounding insane. "Now continue,” Queen Scarlet said waving at the announcer. Blizzard glowered at the announcer causing the announcer to shift uncomfortably as the announcer flew in to the sky higher, whether it was to broadcast his voice or to stay out of Blizzard's reach, Blizzard didn’t care.

 The announcer hesitated for a moment looking at the Icewing who was glowering hatefully at him. Gulping, the announcer continued. “He has won eight fights so far. I give you Blizzard of the Icewings!”

The crowd erupted in roars of excitement.

“Blizzard! Blizzard! Blizzard!” they started chanting.  _Well if I wasn’t appreciated in the_ _I_ _ce kingdom_ _at least I can be looked up to here,_  Blizzard thought halfheartedly.

Blizzard turned to the opposite side of the arena where he knew they would drop his opponent. Blizzard didn’t think much about the dragons he killed. He knew some dragons were squeamish with death, but Blizzard didn’t care who died or who he killed, they were just another obstacle in Blizzard’s path. Blizzard had memorized the felling of a squirming body below him as he tore the throat out of the dragon's neck. For Blizzard the only way for him to survive was to kill without hesitation.

The guards flew up to a spire holding a beige and lemon colored dragon. Blizzard didn’t have to be able to read his mind to know this Sandwing was terrified. The dragon tried to leap out of the guards talons as they unlatched the Sandwings cuffs, unsuccessfully. The guards caught him as the dragon tried to escape. Dragons would try to throw themselves off the spires when they knew they couldn’t win, a dragon who was going against Blizzard once killed themselves that way.

The guards brought the Sandwing to the arena floor as the Sandwing stood clearly shaking in fear. The two dragons looked at one another one look of fear and one look of boredom. 

"With four wins, I give you Yucca of the Sandwings!”

The crowd gave a half cheer, not expecting Yucca to win.

“Claws up! teeth ready! fight!” 

Yucca bolted to the other side of the arena with her tail raised defensively. _Smart one, she knows not to come charging at me,_ Blizzard thought remembering his early fights when dragons didn’t know how dangerous he was. As he started taking long strides across the arena towards Yucca. When Yucca saw him getting closer, she edged her way around the arena keeping an eye on Blizzard as he stood in the middle of the arena taking slow strides to where ever Yucca moved. Yucca darted around the arena and after a few moments she stopped and looked at Blizzard with confusion. Blizzard could just imagine what Yucca might be thinking _; what's he waiting for?_ or _maybe I should strike, he doesn’t seem interested in attacking me._

Yucca took one look at Blizzard and charged, her venomous tail gleaming besides her skull. _And she strikes,_  Blizzard thought as he leaped in the air high above her head and tail. Yucca skidded to a stop as she whipped around tail raised ready for an attack from the front. But she wasn't ready for the attack to her side. Bizzard ran at her side and rammed is shoulder into her rib cage. Yucca screamed in pain as Blizzard heard crunching from her chest, probably her ribs. Yucca was knocked back and rolled along the ground and laid on the ground unmoving.

_You think I haven’t seen that before?_ Blizzard thought amused. Blizzard had faced many enemies who played dead, none did it successfully. Blizzard took the advantage of his opponent sprawled out on the floor and grabbed Yucca's tail and bit hard. 

Yucca howled and thrashed in an attempt to get Blizzard to release her tail. Blizzard bit harder and harder the more she struggled. Warm blood pooled in Blizzard's mouth and dripped down his jaw and into the previously blood-soaked sand.  _There will be a lot more blood when I'm done_ , Blizzard thought as more blood dripped into the sand. Finally, he heard a loud crunch from Yucca’s tail as he released it and took a step back as Yucca swiveled her head to assess the damage.

The part of her tail that attached to the barb was limply hanging from the rest of her tail, her barb was covered in her blood and her tail had a large gash from where Blizzard had bit her.  _You won’t be using that barb ever again_ , Blizzard thought with satisfaction.

Yucca tried to bolt to the other side of the arena only to have Blizzard standing in the way. "We can’t have you running, we have an audience we need to entertain,” Blizzard said with a smirk as the Skywings behind him cheered in agreement.

Yucca staggered and finally found her voice, “Do you work for them? You're a prisoner like me, I've seen you fight you could easily escape,” Yucca said.

“Well the thing is I enjoy this life, it’s much better than my old life.” Blizzard said shrugging as his electric blue tail flicked around behind him.

"If you really enjoy this life why do you insist on fighting the champion to get free?” Yucca growled.

"Let's just say there are dragons I need to see,” Blizzard said thinking of his allies in scorpion den. "Now let's put on a show,” Blizzard growled as he advanced closer.

Yucca gave a warning growl and she shot a storm of fire from her mouth. Blizzard darted to the side feeling the heat radiating from the gold and orange flames. Summoning an ice storm from below he shot a blast of frost at Yucca’s exposed side, the flames then disappeared. Blizzard ran at Yucca and knocked her over and pinned her to the ground.

"I would kill you here and now if I thought you could possibly win against me,” Blizzard said making shure all the Skywings could hear what he was saying. "This performance hasn’t been all too interesting now has it? We want to give the queen an interesting performance, don’t we?”  Blizzard said in a smooth voice. Blizzard looked at Yucca for a moment before raking a claw down the membrane of her wing as she started shrieking, more blood pooled into the sand. "Now, I know your holding back to protect your life, the thing is you can’t win. So, with that knowledge don’t hold back and let's make this an interesting show,” Blizzard said as he took a step off Yucca.

Yucca stood up utterly shocked. "You- your letting me live?” Yucca asked as soon as she found her voice.

"No, no,” Blizzard laughed as the Skywings around him made noises of confusion. "I’m letting you show me and everyone here what you're capable of,” Blizzard said with a menacing smile.

Yucca looked at Blizzard shocked and devastated. Blizzard was used to this when he fought with dragons in the arena, no dragon truly thinks about death until they’re moments away from it.

"Now come on, you won’t survive no matter how careful you are.” 

Yucca took one shuddering breath and shot a burst of hungry orange and gold flames one again. Blizzard summoned a storm from inside as he met the flames with a blast of frost. The ice held off the fire for a moment, just enough time for Blizzard to move. _Now this might be fun_ , Blizzard thought missing the feel of adrenalin coursing through his veins. 

Blizzard darted forward and slashed Yucca's side with his sharper-than-normal Icewing talons, then darted back waiting for his opponent’s next move.

Yucca recoiled and ran at Blizzard as she raked her talons at him, missing as he darted under her and ran his claws along her exposed stomach. He stood behind her assessing the damage he’d done. _Good, that will hurt but it won't be the killing blow or cause her to bleed to death_ , Blizzard thought. Blizzard always loved to toy with his opponents. He’d deal damage, only small shallow wounds to cause pain, then when he was bored, he would kill his opponent.

Yucca lunged at him as her talons collided with his electric blue scales knocking him over. Blizzard grunted and rolled to one side to avoid being pinned. Blizzard hissed and leaped a Yucca who was starting to stand. Blizzard bit the back of Yucca’s neck drawing blood but only damaging enough to slow her down. Blizzard jumped of Yucca pushing her down once again as he waited, preparing his frost breath. Yucca ran at Blizzard as he unleashed his ice breath on her. Yucca doubled over as Blizzard ran at her. Blizzard pinned her down assessing how much damage he’d done with the ice breath. Blizzard had made shure that he didn’t use enough to kill her, but it seemed he might have used too much.

"Looks like that might have been too much,” Blizzard said in a low tone. 

"Y... yo... you should just... kill me,” Yucca said wheezing, and shivering.

“Looks like I used too much frost breath,” Blizzard said not wanting this fight to be over. "I won’t kill you. If you use a bit of your fire it could melt the frost and keep you warm enough to continue fighting,” Blizzard said as Yucca looked surprised that he was telling her how to heal herself. "What? You think I'd let you die? The queen has only let me fight dragons with one or two wins, fighting you is a treat,” Blizzard said flatly. “Aren’t you going to try to stop the ice?” Blizzard asked ready for her to spring at him thinking she could catch him off guard. 

Yucca lifted her talons fast as a striking snake, Blizzard thought she was going to try to attack him, so he leaped back. But Yucca wasn’t after him, she sunk her talons into her stomach as she screamed and pushed her talons in deeper. Blizzard moved fast grabbing her talons and pulling them out of her stomach that was bleeding rapidly.

Yucca’s talons were covered in sticky warm blood that then covered Blizzard's talons. "That was a mistake,” Blizzard growled. Swiftly he sunk his claws into the part that would allow him to immobilize Yucca's front talons. He pushed his talons in deeper as Yucca screamed louder and louder. Blizzard started moving his claws around as much as possible until Yucca’s left talon went limp in his talons. Blizzard then did the same thing to Yucca's right talon. "Now that you can’t try to kill yourself, I'll do it for you,” Blizzard said snarling and sending a breath of cold air into Yucca's face.

Yucca girted her teeth as blood spewed out of her wounds on her shoulder. "You said, you... wouldn’t kill me, you said you wanted to fight me,” Yucca said gasping for breath and shivering, clearly weak from blood loss.

"Yes, well you are in no condition to fight and I'm currently mad at you so I'm going to kill you,” then Blizzard dropped his voice to a menacing tone "I promise it will be extremely slow and painful,” Blizzard said with a smile.

Yucca looked at him with horror and fear. "You are a monster, you belong in this blood thirsty prison,” Yucca panted.

"Yes, well at least I belong somewhere. You belong in the fires with the dead bodies,” Blizzard said nodding to the fires where corpses of dead dragons were being burned. "You might as well enjoy this moment, it will be your last living moment when you're not in horrendous pain,” Blizzard said and paused for a moment before adding on. "You’re one of the only dragons I’ve face here who doesn’t run the entire time. I might remember you after you’re dead,” Blizzard said meaning what he said.

"I hope you die a slow painful death,” Yucca half gasped half snarled.

"I take that as your last words. You're going to wish you are dead once I start killing you,” Blizzard said as his already blood-soaked talons hovered above Yucca's chest.

Slowly Blizzard sunk his talons into Yucca's chest watching the blood pool out of the wound ran down Yucca's scales joining the pools of blood around Yucca. Yucca's screams got louder and more insane sounding the deeper Blizzard's claws went.  _This will teach dragons not to test me,_ Blizzard thought taking a quick glance at the dragons above who looked down with terror. Blizzard pulled his talons out of Yucca's chest as blood spewed from the wound every time Yucca tried to take a breath. “How does it fell? To have talons in your chest?” Blizzard asked not wanting an answer.

"Y... you sh... ould... fell the pain. You deserve it,” Yucca said weakly. 

"Well, it would never happen for me, I'm far too skilled to lose in a fight with an ordinary dragon,”’ Blizzard hissed as he sunk his talon into Yucca’s chest wound once more. Yucca gave a weak yelp as Blizzard twisted his talons in her chest.  when Blizzard removed his talons the hole in Yucca's chest was larger and bloodier Blizzard could see glints of white broken bones beneath the mess he made of Yucca's insides.

"Your stronger than I thought, you're still breathing and giving me the death glare even though you have a bloody hole in your chest. I'm impressed.”

This time Yucca was too weak to give a sharp retort, this time she just narrowed her glare.

Blizzard moved his talons to Yucca's neck and raked his claws down the part without scales as Yucca's blood dripped down her neck as she screamed a silent scream. "I did say it was going to be painful, didn’t I?” Blizzard said as he squeezed Yucca’s neck causing blood to squirt out of her neck and onto Blizzard's electric blue scales. Blizzard squeezed harder and Yucca started gasping for air as Blizzard constricted her windpipe. “Most of the time I give my opponents a quick death, they weren't worth wasting time on. But YOU four wins, that’s impressive, for once I can be pitted against a fighter,” Blizzard said looking into Yucca's bulging eyes. After a minuet when Yucca was barely alive Blizzard released her wind pipe. Yucca's eyes fluttered open with confusion in her gaze. "You thought I'd kill you by suffocating you? I rather have you die felling my talons crushing your heart,” Blizzard snarled.

Blizzard then sunk his talons into Yucca’s stomach as she convulsed, not stong enough to give a yelp, as Blizzard opened up a new wound in her stomach. After a moment Blizzard pulled his talons out and watched the warm red liquid run down his talons. "I promised you’d die because of my talons crushing your heart,” Blizzard said as he sunk his red talons into Yucca's chest wound and moved his talon around until he found Yucca's heart. "I’m not a monster, I'm just trying to survive,” Blizzard said quietly as Yucca's eyes closed one last time. Blizzard crushed the beating organ beneath his talons as Yucca’s heart beat stopped. “Rest well,” Blizzard said quietly. He pulled his talon out of Yucca’s chest and turned to face the audience.

“Blizzard! Blizzard! Blizzard!” the  Skywings chanted as they beat their wings and roared with pleasure.

"Now that was entertaining!” the queen shouted over her subjects. "I might pit you against dragons with more wins from now on.”

Blizzard gave one long look at Yucca and kicked her bleeding body. "I’m glad I was able to please you,” Blizzard said bowing slightly. "Now that I have nine wins, I think it's time for me to face the champion, don’t you?” Blizzard asked feeling Yucca's blood from her corpse pooling around his talons.

"That would be interesting, but I'd much rather keep you alive. Lots of dragons want to see you fight, and as queen I need to please my subjects,” the queen said with a roar of support from the audience. "Now guards, get this dragon cleaned up and bring him to my throne room,” the queen paused for a moment before continuing. “But do put him in chains.”

Blizzard stood in the sand as Yucca’s blood soaked into his scales as waited for the guards to take him away. The guards were hesitant and kept sneaking looks at Yucca’s torn up body. Eventually the guards picked up Blizzard and brought him to the raging river outside the arena for him to wash up his blood-soaked talons. 

Blizzard looked at the crystal-clear waster that ran down hill to the delta below. Blizzard took a step into the cold water that reminded him so much of home.  _You can never go back. The_ _Icewings_ _won’t ever accept what you are,_  Blizzard thought coldly.  _Besides, the_ _I_ _ce kingdom was never my home._  Blizzard watched the red blood flow away into the river turning it red and his electric blue talons were visible once more. Blizzard scrubbed at his talons to wash off the blood that stuck to the underside of his scales. Blizzard rinsed his teeth as the salty tang of blood disappeared from his mouth. When Blizzard was satisfied with his appearance he stepped out of the cold water and walked over to the guards. "I'm ready, take me to the queen,” he said with such authority he sounded like the Icewing prince he was.  _I'm not the_ _Icewing_ _prince_ Blizzard thought with annoyance.  _I never want to have anything to do with the_ _I_ _ce kingdom_ _or_ _Icewings_ _._  

The guards picked him up and carried him to the queen's throne room entrance. The guards started attaching chains to him. Blizzard always hated the felling of chains, but he didn’t struggle.

“Ah, you’re here. You look clean,” the queen said as she inspected her gold rings on her talons. “So, I was thinking about your offer. I do think everyone will want to see you fight Peril, but the problem is if you die that would take all the excitement away from the Skywings. You know, all the Skywings love you, I think they wish you were a Skywing so you don’t have to live in this prison,” the queen said shifting her gaze to Blizzard's azure eyes.

"It’s nice to know that at least one tribe likes me,” Blizzard said coldly.

"Yes, yes I already picked up on the fact that the Icewings don’t like you. But why?” the queen asked leaning forward.

"It’s none of your concern,” Blizzard said flicking his tail.

“But I'm curious. You're such a stong fighter. Why wouldn’t the Icewings adore you like the Skywings do?” 

"Nothing. Why did you bring me here? Was it to ask about why I don’t like my tribe? I don’t think so,” Blizzard said in a smooth voice.

"No, that’s not why I brought you here. I finally decided that I'll let you fight my champion... and one of the dragonets of destiny,” the queen said expecting a reaction from Blizzard. But Blizzard just sat there looking the same.

"Why are you letting me fight the champion?” Blizzard asked.

"Well as you know she called upon the tradition of champion's shield yesterday. The dragon she’s defending is a dragon I'd like to keep. So, I decided to have her fight the dragonet of destiny who is immune to her fire and you. The dragonet if destiny is immune to fire and Peril’s main weapon is fire. And you, your so skilled and your ice breath is the only thing that the dragon tribes have that can get close to peril and do damage to her. And if you defeat Peril, I'll let you go, or you can be my champion. Are you up for it?” Queen Scarlet asked.

_This might be my chance to escape. If_ _P_ _eril is distracted by the other dragon, I can escape. Or I can fight and see how much damage I can do to her then bolt. And the dragonet of destiny... I want to see how well he can fight. This sounds like my opportunity and I won’t let it slip away._ "Yes, I'll do it.”


End file.
